How to Use preoccupation in a Sentence

preoccupation

noun
  • We need to better understand the problems and preoccupations of our clients.
  • Are the themes in this movie in any way a reflection of your own preoccupations?
    — Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2025
  • Only in some of its themes and preoccupations, and the fact that both have taken me years to write.
    — Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025
  • Still, the two share much in style and spirit, even beyond their preoccupation with time.
    — Giulia Pines, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2018
  • Throughout your life, how much has career and the pursuit of a good life been a preoccupation for you?
    — Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 26 June 2019
  • But this preoccupation may have been a way to offset the general malaise that plagued her.
    — Elizabeth Djinis, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2025
  • Our preoccupation with growing our wealth and status has left us in a world that is high on carbon but low on care.
    — Gina Lodge, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2021
  • The book seems to be organized more around her own preoccupations than around those of its subject.
    — Carson Holloway, National Review, 20 June 2019
  • Our preoccupation with food is much more primal than the pull of a Sephora sale.
    — Maggie Anders, Oc Register, 29 July 2025
  • Like Smaug, Fafnir has a giant hoard of gold that is his main preoccupation.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 21 Sep. 2017
  • The integrity of elections has been a preoccupation on the right for years.
    — Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2021
  • Trump would seem to share few of the habits or preoccupations of the wellness influencers, and yet their project is in synch with his own.
    — Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2025
  • There’s this preoccupation with deaths from nuclear power, but what’s rarely talked about are all the lives that have been saved.
    — Big Think, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Several brief texts authored by the artist describe his preoccupation with the past and with the very idea of time.
    — Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Mar. 2018
  • Jobs are a central preoccupation of hers.
    — Literary Hub, 15 May 2026
  • For the last year or so, travelers’ preoccupation with airline miles and credit card points was on hold.
    — Scott McMurren, Anchorage Daily News, 4 July 2021
  • Holes is open about his preoccupation with his work, frequently to the detriment of his private life.
    — Washington Post, 27 Apr. 2022
  • Our phones are a preoccupation and younger kids certainly don't understand what the fuss is all about.
    — Heather Wishart-Smith, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2022
  • These milestones demonstrate that the past is colored and edited by the preoccupations of the present.
    — George F. Will, Washington Post, 3 July 2026
  • At the time, Genetti had only heard about my preoccupation with wanting to speak with her.
    — Andy Schatschneider, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1 Mar. 2018
  • Avoiding brands that don’t match with your values isn’t just a preoccupation of the progressive left.
    — Nicole Qualtieri, Outside Online, 18 July 2024
  • Making art that considers the end of the world is an ancient preoccupation.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2022
  • The preoccupation with Russian meddling is a call to rally around the flag.
    — Adam Tooze, The New York Review of Books, 6 June 2019
  • Goode’s greatest preoccupation, the one that all the others seem to revolve around, is reptiles.
    — Lane Brown, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2024
  • Instead of replacing the guy at the center of the action, the guy is her preoccupation.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2021
  • Still, even with its preoccupation with death, The Room Next Door is not a dour film.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 7 Sep. 2024
  • Just look for all the insect references — stink bugs at the beginning to flies at the end, and a preoccupation with odor across the frames.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2019
  • Just look for all the insect references – stink bugs at the beginning to flies at the end, and a preoccupation with odor across the frames.
    — Mark Kennedy, Detroit Free Press, 31 Oct. 2019
  • This seems to fairly reflect the range of Lipsky’s preoccupations, as well as the span of his writing.
    — Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2023
  • More than three decades later, similar preoccupations haunt memoirs by the cousins of two young men — one black, one white — who have run afoul of the law.
    — Julia M. Klein, chicagotribune.com, 8 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'preoccupation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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